Author: John Mathewson

Earlier this year, the Massachusetts economy was named one of the most technology-heavy in the entire country. The workforce in Massachusetts relies on technology each and every day, which has improved productivity and the number of people who are proficient with different aspects of the IT world. But is the tech sector of the economy in Massachusetts growing fast enough?

Five years ago, industry group Mass Technology Leadership Council set a goal of there being 100,000 new technology jobs created in Massachusetts by the year 2020. Massachusetts is generally on track to meet this goal, though there are a few issues that experts have noted in recent months. The biggest one being that there are more available jobs than there are qualified people.

According to a report released by the group late last week, for every recent graduate that is qualified to hold a tech job, there are 17 open positions available. Between 2010 and 2013, Massachusetts technology companies created just under 18,000 new jobs, which fell short of the set goal of about 26,000 for that time period. By the end of 2013, the Bay State had 214,000 tech jobs, up from 197,000 when the goals were initially set.

According to the report, the best way to deal with this talent crunch is to create programs and initiatives that will develop, attract and retain talent. The tech industry is a major part of the Massachusetts economy, comprising of 20 percent of the overall workforce and contributing $93 billion in economic value to the state, $7 billion of which is through state and local taxes.

If you are starting your own tech company and are in need of custom web application development to help grow your business, be sure to work with KYO Logic today!

Transcript

Hey everybody and welcome back! This time, we’ll be talking about how FileMaker can allow you to extract old data you have saved on your computer.

One of the main questions that people have when using FileMaker is whether or not it has the ability to recover information from and old system or from another application, such as Google Docs or Excel.

The answer to that is absolutely! FileMaker has excellent built-in tools, as well as customized tools, for extracting information from the Microsoft apps that you use regularly on your computer. This will make it easier for you to use FileMaker in the future.

As always thanks for watching, and be sure to check back here again soon for more helpful FileMaker tips and information!

Transcript

If you’re not familiar with the program FileMaker, you might be wondering what it can do to support your website. This time, we’ll take a look at just that.

Web Direct is an exciting new feature offered by FileMaker, which will allow you to easily transfer the program’s features to your web browser. It is recommended that this part of the program be used by up to 50 concurrent users.

Building a traditional website through FileMaker is something that is commonly done. FileMaker is excellent as a back end for websites, as it has very capable PHP libraries. While a plug-in is sometimes required, FileMaker can handle web services such as SOAP and WSDL with ease.

Thanks for watching, and be sure to check back here again soon for more FileMaker news and tips!

These days, it is not uncommon to find yourself on dating apps or other forms of social media dedicated to helping you find a special someone. The name "Tinder" has become pretty synonymous with online meetings over just the last few months alone.

If you are a resident in the state of Connecticut, chances are you use a social media dating app on a regular basis. According to AVG Technologies' ranking of the entire United States, Connecticut ranks first in dating app downloads such as Tinder, Match and OKCupid.

This means that, throughout the entirely of 2014, there were more people per capita in Connecticut with an online dating app downloaded to their smartphone than any other state in the country. Rounding out the top five were Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Illinois.

Although there has been an increase in digital dating in the United States, the country itself does not rank as the top nation across the globe. According to AVG Technologies, the U.S. is currently fourth in dating app popularity, falling behind the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Argentina rounds out the top five in this international ranking.

This information is totally anonymous, as AVG Technologies only looked at aggregate data and not into anything else about the people using these apps. This new information also does not include those people who downloaded any of these dating apps and then later decided to delete them off of their smartphones.

If you are looking to build up your tech world in another arena, such as a business startup, be sure to work with KYO Logic. We have custom database software that will be able to improve how you run your new company.

These days, the security of customer data is of utmost importance to those in the business community. For private companies that want to do business with state agencies in Connecticut, they will likely need to step up their encryption software in order to get those lucrative contracts.

Connecticut lawmakers are considering a mandate that will require all public vendors to encrypt all of the personal data that is stored and transmitted while they are doing business with the state. Business will also be responsible for creating stronger password protections and controlling how much information can be downloaded at one time.

The idea behind this is to help prevent important data from being stolen, and to help mitigate any damage that could be done in the event that a hack takes place. This increased push for greater protections comes about a month after the Anthem breach, in which the personal data of nearly one-third of Connecticut's residents were exposed.

"We've learned a hard lesson, but it provides us with the momentum to accomplish change – change to put in real protections for Connecticut residents," State Majority Leader Bob Duff said in an interview with Government Technology. "This is also an opportunity for the state to provide assistance to small businesses to encrypt their sensitive data and make our state a more attractive place for them to locate."

If you are looking to improve the technology of your company, be sure to use the custom database software from KYO Logic. Check out the rest of our website to learn more about the different programs that we offer to our customers, or to talk to any of our FileMaker consultants.

There is no office these days that is not filled with technology, from computers to tablets to the smart phones that sit on our desks. That means there is more opportunity than ever to be respectful of your colleagues' possessions, especially when it comes to something as sensitive as technology.

In a recent poll done by Robert Half Finance and Accounting, more than 75 percent of human resources professionals found that breaches of office technology etiquette can have a negative impact on the career prospects of an individual. You need to be careful when it comes to technology!

Here are a few tips to help you out:

• Keep laptop usage to a minimum in meetings: When you are meeting with other people in the company, it is best to stick to pens and paper to take notes. You will be more fully engaged in what is going on and not distracted by all your computer has to offer.
• Never unplug a charging device: If something is plugged into an outlet that does not belong to you, do not unplug it before talking to the owner first. You never know how much juice a person might need in their phone or computer for the day.
• Only wear headphones at your desk: You should never walk around the office with your headphones in. This will reduce your level of concentration and will not allow you to meaningfully interact with those around you when necessary.

If you are looking to improve the technology in your office, be sure to try custom database software from KYO Logic. Check out the rest of our website to learn more about business software solutions that we offer.

If you are in the technology industry, chances are you use, or have at least heard of, FileMaker. The FileMaker development software is wonderful for those who are looking to expand their tech startup, but it can often be complicated to learn how to use an entirely new piece of technology.

The good news is that NightWing Enterprises, a FileMaker pro development and consulting service, will be running international master classes for those who are interested in learning more about this product. They will be in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia.

The entire purpose of these classes, which will be intensive three-day seminars, is to expand the attendees’ knowledge and broadening their approach to how they use FileMaker development software in their professional lives. The classes will be limited in size and cover a broad range of topics and real world techniques.

The classes are tailored to experienced and knowledgeable developers and will cover topics including scalability, process control, application and deployment models, code logic and solution design perspectives. These are just some of what attendees will learn about over the course of those three days.

The classes will be held in San Francisco, Berlin, London, Sydney, Tokyo and Norwalk, Connecticut. The classes will be run from late March to the beginning of June, and all of the individual dates for the cities mentioned can be found on the NightWing Enterprises website.

If you work in the technology industry and are in need of custom database software, be sure to work with developer KYO Logic. You want to get the most out of your business, and FileMaker can help you in your endeavors.

Civic technology, aimed at developing solutions to benefit a community's population, is an area that is attracting widespread interest in recent times. In New York City, a new private initiative is seeking to encourage its development through collaboration between academics, engineers and data scientists, to name a few. The founders of the Personal Democracy Forum, an annual event on the influence of the Internet on politics and advocacy, have recently opened Civic Hall in Manhattan's Flatiron District.

Civic Hall has 18,500 square feet of work, conference and event space. Here, private companies are coming together to develop innovative solutions like air conditioners with low carbon emissions. Public organizations, including the New York Public Library, are collaborating with programming events at the Hall.

Throughout the city, tech companies are growing at an unprecedented pace, as Mayor Bill de Blasio has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, in fostering IT development with tax breaks, imitating San Francisco's model. Major companies like BuzzFeed and Etsy have million-dollar tax credits, and much smaller companies are feeling the benefits as well.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, employment in the tech sector is up 40 percent since 2008 in New York City, with the yearly rate at 8.4 percent, compared to 5.2 percent in Silicon Valley. Venture capital investment is up 138 percent in the past year. Digital media, online retail and software developing companies are leading the charge.

In the case of app and other software developers, New York companies are often thriving by gearing their products specifically to city dwellers. By understanding and targeting a specific audience, the city's tech sector is cementing its place as a national leader.

Venture capital database CB Insights has published its 2014 Global Tech Exits Report, which documents the number of startups that exited, that is, went public or were acquired, last year. As it did in 2013, New York came in second among U.S. states with 158 exits, behind only perennial leader California, which recorded 523. The Empire State warded off third-place Massachusetts, with 113.

New York's biggest exit was loan financing platform OnDeck, which went public on December 17 and raised $200 million, being valued at approximately $1.3 billion. Other significant deals were the acquisition of mobile and tablet retargeting company TapCommerce by Twitter and the IPO of digital media company Everyday Health, each worth about $100 million.

Prospects are good for the market to stay active in 2015, starting with the IPO of popular crafts e-commerce site Etsy, which is expected to raise about $300 million sometime during the first quarter. Funding has been increasing for established companies and the number of startups that are being valued at or above $1 billion is also on the rise.

"There are a lot more high-value startups now, and with that we could see an increasing number of venture-capital-backed exits, and bigger exits than we've seen before," said CB Insights analyst Michael Dempsey. "Two years ago, [the $1.1 billion sale of ] Tumblr was a big moment for New York. I think you're going to be seeing that a lot more frequently moving forward."

While California will continue to dominate the tech landscape in the near future, states like Massachusetts and New York have developed environments in which software developing companies can thrive and find major financial success.

Apple subsidiary FileMaker Inc., maker of the popular relational database software, has relaunched the former FileMaker Technical Network as the FileMaker Community, a free resource on the ins and outs of the software. The former TechNet has undergone a complete redesign to make it more accessible to users of all skill levels. The new Community now offers free information resources and forums to promote the exchange of ideas and tips.

All 60,000 registered TechNet members are automatically granted access to the Community and its online resources, which include examples and tools, guides and other product documentation, tech briefs and videos. Users can submit technical questions for experienced developers to answer, or simply participate in discussions on FileMaker development experiences.

As an introduction, the company has made available for free download five videos that were recorded during sessions at the 2014 FileMaker Developer Conference in San Antonio. At that event last summer, Kyo Logic's own Tim Neudecker came in second in the DevCon Developer Cup, behind only Christopher Schmitz of Skeleton Key, a Saint Louis-based company that is a partner of Kyo's in the FM Academy.

Skeleton Key's Greg Lane is the host of one of the five videos that FileMaker is using to launch the community, "Developing with Perform Script on Server," which familiarizes viewers with one of the additions from 2013's FileMaker 13.

Kyo provides businesses in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York with all the support they need to make the most of FileMaker's capabilities. We can create database apps to your specific requirements and provide training to help you customize, expand and adapt your own databases as your needs evolve. Contact us to find out more about how we can streamline your business reporting processes.